Editorial: UF reimagined

Thursday

May 31, 2012 at 12:01 AM

It's clear that in light of new political and fiscal realities public higher education is going to have to reinvent itself.

As seductive as it may be, the notion that all UF has to do is keep spending down its reserves — avoiding any cuts or reorganizations — until the Legislature restores lost funding is a dangerous gamble.Per-student state funding for public colleges and universities has been on a steady downward slope for the best part of a decade; and not just in Florida, but nationally.It's clear that in light of new political and fiscal realities public higher education is going to have to reinvent itself; grow leaner and meaner, experiment with innovative and more efficient delivery models, build new partnerships and discard what no longer makes sense.UF President Bernie Machen is right to resist calls to use reserves to preserve the status quo until the Legislature has time to make the university's budget whole again. The imperative in Tallahassee for the last half dozen years has been to cut taxes, slash spending and shrink government, and there is no indication that political tide is going to shift any time soon.To the contrary, Gov. Rick Scott has made clear his intention to remold Florida public higher education to fit his own preconceptions. And the Legislature has demonstrated — most recently with its frivolous creation of "Florida Tech," — that it cares more about pork than policy.This is a crucial juncture in UF's evolution, and trusting the university's destiny to the whims and promises of politicians seems foolish indeed. Better for the academy to begin to re-envision itself from within — now — than wait for Tallahassee to dictate the course of UF's future. Surely, this intellectual community is up to the challenge.